Kingdom: Ashin of the North

A special episode giving the background of the series Kingdom. The story takes place before the main narrative. On the northern border, in the territory between Korea and the Jurchen communities, there is a village. Ashin is a small girl and her father leads a community that cooperates with the state on the frontier. Something happens and the village is destroyed. The state covers it up. Ashin survives, and years later she comes back. At the centre is a plant: the one that revives the dead. Where the thing that appears in the series as the source of the plague came from, and who knew what, is told here. What separates it is this: in the series the cause of the horror looked like a disease, and here it turns out to be a plan for revenge. Gianna Jun plays the adult Ashin and Kim Si-a the child. Kim Seong-hun directed. It runs about ninety minutes and was released on a streaming service as a special. Visually the standard of the series is maintained; the snow, the forest and the border-country photography are its strongest element. A necessary piece for anyone who likes Korean series and historical horror. For someone who has not watched the series, the film does not stand alone and introduces nobody.